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Today’s guest post comes from Susan Donius, Director of the Office of Presidential Libraries at the National Archives. This post originally appeared on the White House blog.

The President of the United States must be ready to travel anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice. Fortunately, modern Presidents have access to a variety of transportation options, including flying aboard Air Force One. Strictly speaking, the term “Air Force One” is used to describe any Air Force aircraft when the President is on board, but since the middle of the 20th century, it has been standard practice to use the title to refer to specific planes that are equipped to transport the Commander-in-Chief.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first sitting President to fly on an airplane when, in January 1943, he traveled aboard a Boeing 314 Clipper Ship called the Dixie Clipper to attend the Casablanca Conference in Morocco. Two years later, Roosevelt again flew abroad, this time aboard a converted military plane dubbed the Sacred Cow, to join Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference. The Sacred Cow did not have a pressurized cabin, so when it flew at high altitudes, oxygen masks were necessary for everyone on board. The plane was also equipped with an elevator that could accommodate President Roosevelt and his wheelchair for boarding and disembarking.

The first time a sitting President came to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library was on May 21, 1971, when President Richard Nixon boarded Air Force One and journeyed to the campus of the University of Texas at Austin to help former President Johnson dedicate the library to the American people.

It had been a little more than two years since Johnson had yielded the Oval Office to Nixon, and Johnson’s place in history was very much in the balance.

The war in Vietnam that Johnson had escalated and that continued to divide the nation hung balefully over his legacy. This, despite the profusion of landmark laws LBJ left in his wake, including the passage of a triumvirate of seminal civil rights legislation: the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the 1968 Fair Housing Act.

As library’s inauguration played out, the voices of 2,100 Vietnam protesters rumbled in the distance, their chants of “No more war!” carried by 25-mile-an-hour winds that swirled throughout the day.

On April 10, 2014, when Barack Obama became the second sitting President to visit the LBJ Library, the weather, which topped out at 88 degrees, was far less tempestuous—and Lyndon Johnson’s legacy had become far clearer.

American Archives Month has one week to go, and we’ve still got so much to share about the hard-working archivists in our Presidential Libraries! This post takes us out to Little Rock, AR, where we learn about this archivist’s responsibilities, experiences, and why she’s Team Socks.

Kim Coryat is a textual archivist at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library.

Name: Kim Coryat

Occupation: Textual archivist at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library

How long have you worked at this library?

I was originally hired as a Museum Office Assistant in December 2004, about two weeks after the library opened.

How/why did you decide to go into the archival field?

Within a few months of my arrival in Little Rock, I realized that there was a job here at the Clinton Library for which I was eminently suited. I was an American History major in grad school, and have always been a huge politics nerd. Archivists at Presidential Libraries combine history, politics, and my other great love–reading, all into one big pile, and they mentally feast on it! The best part is they actually pay you to do this! From that point on I applied for every opening in the textual archives here at the Library. I was hired as an Archives Tech in 2006, and in 2009, they finally gave in and let me be an … [ Read all ]

Today’s blog post comes from Susan Donius, Director of the Office of Presidential Libraries at the National Archives.

It’s not often that several Presidents are together at one time, but on April 25, the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum will be dedicated to the American public. Although many dignitaries from around the world will attend, all eyes will likely focus on the gathering of men who have called the White House home. In addition to George W. Bush, guests of honor will include current Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama, and former Presidents William J. Clinton, George Bush, and Jimmy Carter.

The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.

The first Presidential Library and Museum was conceived and built under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s direction from 1939 to 1940 in Hyde Park, NY. The official FDR Library dedication was a small, quiet affair, with close friends and family attending the ceremony. Over the years, the ceremonies have grown larger, and dedications have become notable for the atmosphere of nonpartisan goodwill and respect among former Presidents.

The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum was dedicated on July 6, 1957, in Independence, MO. During Truman’s Presidency, Herbert Hoover offered his services to help with post–World War II humanitarian efforts. Despite being Presidents from opposing parties, the two forged a working relationship that eventually grew into a strong friendship. At … [ Read all ]

On Monday, January 21, President Obama will be sworn in for a second term. It will be the 57th Presidential Inauguration. Beginning at 11:30 a.m., the President’s swearing-in ceremony will be shown live in the William G. McGowan Theater at the National Archives.

If you are in Washington, DC, don’t miss this chance to see several Presidential Inaugurations! We will be screening historic footage of previous Presidential Inaugurations from our holdings. The films will highlight different Presidential Inaugurations every day, starting with FDR and ending with Clinton. Check the schedule below to decide which historic Inauguration you want to see.

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